Book Review: "The Fraud" by Zadie Smith

robertmcgrath

Oct 15

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Smith writes on a variety of themes and characters, so I had no idea what to expect from The Fraud.

What I found is an imaginative historical fiction, filled with details from Victorian Britain. The people in the story are not only Dickensian, they include Charles Dickens himself! (In this telling, he was charming in person, but he was "a vampire": always paying attention, so that everyone and everything was fodder for his stories.)

And, for good measure, this is a timely story about fame, popular mania, unshakable belief, and "alternative facts."

The titular "Fraud" refers to the crazy (real life) events surrounding a missing heir, who was shipwrecked off South America. His mother hopes that he escaped, and, responding to advertisements around the world, a claimant comes forward—in Australia.

The whole thing is as crazy as any Internet mania today. The claimant's story is ifffy—he doesn't particularly resemble the missing person—but at some people swear it is him. He comes home to England to press his case in public.

In a very Internet-y development, his cause becomes melded with the social divisions and anxieties of the day. He is seen as the honest little guy, being done over by the rich elites, institutions, the law, and so on. He tours the country, speaking at mass rallies.

Smith portrays how people understand his case. For example, the fact that he doesn't look like the original matters not a whit to many, because his mother recognized him, or so it is said. Inconsistencies and falsehoods in his story seem only to prove that he is real. Wouldn't a fake have a better story?

And so on.

On this side of the Atlantic, we see Trumpism. Smith may be seeing Boris.

I'll note that Smith also works in historic views on race and racism in Britain, which is hard to read without cringing. It's not race hatred; it's mostly an oblivious ignorance and denial of everything—the humanity of others, the reality of slavery and discrimination, and the connection between the local (e.g., sugar and cotton consumption and profits) and distant (slave plantations and wars).

And, of course, liberal reformers have their own skewed understanding of "freedom" (see Larsen), and concepts of uplift. These understandings , and the political platforms for "reform" and gradual improvement have little to do with the lives or wishes of actual people.

Please let me be clear. This is not a sermon. (Well...many of the Victorians do tend to sermonize. But Smith is not sermonizing.) This is a historical novel, in which the characters experience and confront these issues, issues which are still relevant today.

And, for me, the historical setting reminds us that the Internet did not invent mass alienation, nor does the psychology of "fake news"depend on mobile phones.

On one hand, it's discouraging that the old tropes (e.g., anti-semitism and anti-vaxism driven by alienation from cultural elites) have proved to be just as powerful today despite everything. It seems that all the science we've done, and my generation's signature creation of the greatest education and public information system ever built, have done nothing to change people.

On the other hand, it is slightly encouraging to know that it's not the Internet's fault. (As one of the generation who built it, this is important to me!) We didn't fix people, but we didn't exactly break them either.

I have always argued that "the kids" were going to grab on to the technology we were creating, and they were going to do their own thing with it. I couldn't guess what they would do, but I could be pretty sure that me and most grow-ups were going to be appalled.

Boy, was I right about that!

Sigh.

Oops. Sorry, I wandered off topic.

Back to Zadie Smith.

This story has plenty of angles, so you should find something to interest you.

Go ahead. Read it.